Estimates committee misled on power station: Oppn

There are new concerns over the planning process for a controversial gas-fired power station proposed for Tuggeranong in southern Canberra.

A consortium including ActewAGL had planned to build a 210 megawatt gas-fired power station near the Mugga Lane tip but last month announced it would scale down the size of the project in response to community concerns.

It has emerged two Government official misled an ACT Government estimates committee when they said the Chief Minister's Department had no involvement in selecting the site.

Land Development Agency chief executive Philip Mitchell is believed to have written to the committee confirming the department was involved. On Saturday it emerged deputy chief executive of the Chief Minister's Department, David Dawes, had also sought to clarify his evidence to the committee.

Opposition MLA Brendan Smyth says he wants to know the truth.

"At the heart of it, there is correspondence that would indicate that the Chief Minister's Department, despite their denials, were intimately involved with this project right from the start," he said.

"If we've been told untruths in the estimates committee then we need that rectified in the estimates committee."

Mr Smyth says the committee must be allowed to reconvene.

"We want to know what went on so we can make an informed decision and the community wants to know, so they can make an informed decision," he said.

"We're not getting that information. We asked questions in the estimates, we were told that certain things didn't happen, now the Government's done an enormous backflip."

But David Dawes says they were not involved in selecting the site.

He says they identified four possible sites for the consortium to consider but did not influence the final decision.

Mr Dawes says ActewAGL based its decision on a number of criteria including close location to a methane source and other ActewAGL facilities.

"They nominated and ultimately selected the site based on all of the information," he said.

He says the Mugga Lane tip site suited ActewAGL's needs more than the a second site in Hume.

Independent decision

ActewAGL CEO John Mackay says the decision to choose the Mugga Lane tip site was not influenced by advice from the ACT Government.

"It was not taken at the urging of the Chief Minister's Department or the Chief Minister, I can tell you that categorically," he said.

"We were high-fiving around the office just about when we got that site. We were delighted with it.

"We were not strong-armed by Jon Stanhope and we certainly were not strong-armed by his department either."

Mr Mackay says he is not sure if ActewAGL knew the site was the Government's preferred location for the power station before they made a final decision.

"We were delighted from word go, it was our choice, we made it with our eyes open and we were not strong-armed into it at all," he said.

New plans for the power station are on public display until the end of the month.